Suomipassi allows the user to select a phrase suitable for a customer service situation in a shop or restaurant and listen to it in Finnish.
The threshold for using Finnish in everyday situations is reduced when the app is found on one's own phone.
The idea of Suomipassi was born one year ago when the Finnish language teacher Jenni Laine at the Center for Language and Communication Studies of the University of Turku wanted to develop her students a concrete tool for everyday life situations.
Also, the Student Union of the University of Turku (TYY) was taking part in the pilot project. In the first round, Suomipassi was a printed booklet. After the idea was refined, funding for mobile application was obtained from the Study in Turku project. The application was carried out by application developers at the University of Turku.
- With the application accompanying, you can learn, among other things, pronunciation. Suomipassi has been translated into six languages and includes also food vocabulary, numbers, and spoken language. The Finnish language learner can use the application independently, but in the most optimal way, it works as a part of Finnish language studies. It is rather an extra resource for language learning and is not intended for the holistic development of language skills, Laine says.